Clothespin



Nov. 11 1924.-

G. S. SHAW CLOTHESPI N r'lled May 15. 1923 HAW . p L w 0 L r 1 Wm J) 18m 5 15 H d B 4 5 m Patented Nov. 11, 1924..

CLOTHESPIN.

Application filed May 15,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE STANLEY SHAW, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, and a resident of the city of Vancouver, in the Province ofBritish Columbia, Canada, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Clothespins, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in clothes pins, and the object ofmy invention is to provide a clothes pin formed of wire and theconstruction of which is such that it may be manufactured in largequantities quickly and cheaply and sold at a very low cost while at thesame time it is highly practical and eflicient, an automatic lockingfeature with which it is provided enabling it to maintain a firm andsecure: grip on the line and the clothes thereon when in place withoutdanger of tearing or damaging the finest garments.

I attain this object by the construction illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which-- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my clothes pinclosed. 1 I

Fig. 2 is a front view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side view'of the clothes pin opened.

Fig. 4 is a plan view.

Similar figures of reference indicate similar :parts throughout theseveral views.

The clothes pin is formed out of a single piece of suitable wireconstructed to provide a coil 1 intermediate its length. One end of thiscoil is turned upwardly at right angles to the coil and carried for apredetermined length as at 2 and is then bent upon itself at rightangles and parallel to the coil as at 3 to extend a predetermined widthafter which it is bent upon itself to extend downwardly as at 4 at rightangles to the portion 3 and parallel to the portion 2. The part- 4 iscontinued downwardly a suitable distance beyond the coil and is thenturned laterally inwardly at right angles as at 5, extending to aboutmidwidth of the pin, after which it is turned upwardly at right anglesto the portion 5, as indicated by the numeral 6, extending to within ashort distance from the lower periphery of the coil so that it is spacedfrom the coil a predetermined amount, which will be referred to later.The portion 6 is then doubled over outwardly and sharply on itself as at1923. Serial No. 639,114.

7 and is continued downwardly as at 8, to extend the full depth of theclothes pin after which it turnsagain laterally as at 9 to form aportion similar to and in the same plane as the portion 5, this portion9 being then turned at right angles on itself to extend upwardly to formthe portion 10 substantiallyparallelto the portion 4, the extremity ofwhich portion 10 is hooked as at 11 and securely engaged to the coilwhere it turns upwardly to providethe part 2, as indicated by thenumeral 12. a c

The opposite end of the coil 1 is also turned upwardly at right anglesto the coil and carried as at 13 the same length as the part 2, beingthen bent at right angles on itself and carried as at 14 the same lengthas the pore tion 3, which portion 14 is then bent downwardly at rightangles and extended as, at 15 the same length as the portion 4, thisportion 15 below the coil being substantially parallel to the portion 4butabove the coil being bent outwardly, as shown in Fig. 1, to be spacedfrom the part of portion 4 which is above the coil and the portion 13 issimilarly bent, as shown, so that the transverse part 14 is. spacedfromthe transverse part 3. The portion 15 is then turned laterallyinwardly parallel to the portion 9 and of slightly less length than thesame, as indicated by the numeral 16, after which it rises upwardly asat 17 to'the same height as the portion 6 and is then doubled overoutwardly and sharply on itself as at 18 and extended downwardly thefull depth of the clothes pin, as at 19. It is then bent to extendlaterally to form the portion 20 similar to and in the same plane as theportion 16 after which it is bent upwardly to extend substantiallyparallel to the lower parts of the portions 15 and 4, as at 21, theextremity of the portion 21 being hooked as at 22 and securely engagedto the coil where it turns upwardly to provide the portion 13, asincheated by the numeral 23.

The portions 4 and 15 bear respectively on the hooks 11 and 22 andfulcrum thereon, and the upstanding fingers formed by the portions 6-8and 17-19 lie side by side, while the space between the points of thefingers, that is, between the bends 7 and 18 and the plane of the lowerperiphery of the coil and the points of the hooks 11 and 22 is such thatwhen the pin is in place on a clothes line the line is grippedfirmoFFicE.

1y between the points of the fingers, the coil, and the books, asindicated in Fig. i, the clothes line being shown by the dotted linesand indicated by the numeral 24.

It will thus be seen that the clothes pin consists of two handles formedrespectively the parts '234= and l3-1415 one of which diverges from theother as shown in Fig. 1 so that they may both be brought together byinward finger pressure and thus open the normally closed jaws formedrespectively by. the parts 4-5-''910 and l5-1620-21, as shown in Fig. 3,thereby enablin the jaws to be passed over the clothes line and clothesthereon to grip the clothes firmly when the handles are released due tothe tendency of the jaws to close through the spring-action of thecoil 1. It will be seen further that each jaw is provided with anupstanding finger formed respectively by the parts 6-7-8 and 17-1819 andas these parts are doubled over on themselves at their upper ends at 7and 18 and are brought together into the same plane at their lower endsit will be-evident that, the fingers lying normally side by side, awedge shaped space is formed between them when the jaws are opened, asshown in Fig. 3 and indicated by the numeral 25, that. is, the fingerstouch each other at their upper ends and diverge at their lower ends butbeing of spring wire they are spread-apart at their upperends by theclothes line when placing the pin on the line but spring together againafter the line passes between their upper ends,

thus locking the pin on the line, which then lies between the coil, thehooks l1 and and the points of the fingers, as indicated by the dottedlines in Fig. 1.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have devised a clothes pincapable of being manufactured out of wire with great facility andcheapness andadapted to be automatically locked to the clothes line sothat both the pin and the clothes are securely held to the line whenplaced thereon.

What I claim as my invention is:

I 1. A clothes pin formed out of a single piece of wire twisted toprovide a coil intermediate the length of the pin, the opposite ends ofthe coil being extended above and below the coil and bent on themselvesto form handles and gripping jaws respectively and then returned totheir respective initial starting points of extension and connected tothe wire thereat, the Wire being bent upwardly and then downwardly atmidwidth of the jaws to provide abutting spring fingers capable of beingspread-apart when passing the pin over a clothes line.

2. A clothes pin formed out of a single piece of wire twisted to providea coil intermediate the length of the pin, the opposite ends of the coilbeing extended above and below the coil and bent on themselves to formhandles and gripping jaws respectively and then returned to theirrespective initial starting points of extension and connected to thewire thereanthe wire being 3611b upwardly and then downwardly atmidwidth of the jaws to provide abutting spring fingers capable of beingspread apart when passing the jaws over a clothes line and of suchlength that they may spring together on the underside of the line whenpassed thereover.

In a clothes pin, the combination with the gripping jaws thereof, ofmeans for positively locking the saidjaws to afcloth'es line, said meanscomprising a coil intermediate the length of the pin and members, thepoints of which converge and are spaced from the coil so that anautomatic lock for the line is formed between the converging points andthe periphery of the coil.

Dated at Vancouver, B, 0., this 8th day of May, 1923.

GEORGE STANLEY SHAW.

